Wednesday, 4 June 2014

THE three-day warning strike declared by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has paralysed health care delivery at most of the Federal Government hospitals across the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that NARD declared a nationwide warning strike on Monday, to press for the payment of outstanding salaries and allowances for its members.

Also joined in the strike were members the Joint Health Sector Unions at the FMC, Yenagoa, over non-payment of promotion arrears.

At the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Dr Ugoeze Asinobi, chairman, FMC, Yenagoa chapter of NARD, said members of the association complied with the directive of their national body.

“We are complying with the directive to commence a three-day warning strike.

“It is a nationwide issue, but the strike by other categories of health workers in the hospital is a local matter and is not related to our own,” he said.

Also, resident doctors in Federal Government-owned hospitals in Lagos and Enugu states on Monday, began a three-day warning strike to protest some unresolved issues affecting them.

Abdullahi said at a news conference in Abuja, that their grievances were based on residency training and re-integration of the doctors into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

Other demands included payment of three months’ salary arrears owed doctors in the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri and non-implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).

NAN reported that some resident doctors at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, were seen rendering skeletal services at the Accident and Emergency unit.

Addressing the press at the hospital, the President, Association of Resident Doctors, UCH, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Franklin Anor, said the strike was as a result of failure of the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health to endorse and formalise the report of the inter-agency Committee on Residency Training Funding and Policy.

“Residency training programme for doctors in this country is completely under-funded, which is not like that in other countries. It is just in Nigeria that the government has refused to provide adequate funds for residency training; which is a tool for effective practice of our profession. That is the fundamental issue regarding this warning strike,” he said.

He added that other issues surrounding the strike action included the Federal Government’s failure to honour the terms of agreement signed with NARD on relativity in salaries of doctors and other health workers.

“If the government does not attend to our demands by 1st of July,2014 it is going to be an indefinite strike,” he concluded.

About Me

Am Tanimowo Boluwatife, am an introvert and i often find it hard to relate. Well that does not really matter. Apart from my personalty, i believed in the culture and that of African specifically and i beleived it should be encouraged and practised for its continuty. Africans have despise their culture and majority does not even remeber or knows what it worth anymore due to urbanization, which makes me to set this platform up so as to share content relating to Africans majorly for better understanding of whats going on in Africa.
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